A New Westminster school trustee, Dee Beattie, is in hot water after admitting to running a Twitter troll account to harass people.
Beattie said she has taken a medical leave of absence and has agreed to cooperate with a code of conduct investigation.
On Wednesday, New Westminster parent Sarah Arboleda posted a Twitter thread accusing Beattie of running the troll account, which had the alias Allan Whitterstone.
The Whitterstone Twitter account said a number of inflammatory statements, including calling Arboleda a “whiner” for raising concerns about portables at schools and “privileged” with regard to daycare concerns.
Another post called Arboleda’s husband a “typical tradesman bully.”
Arboleda said she was tipped off about the possibility of Beattie running the account when there was a post that included a locator that lined up with Beattie’s home address.
“I was expecting I was going to find out this was somebody’s brother, husband … I thought it was someone close to the board that was maybe taking it too far,” Arboleda told Global News.
“Truly, I never in a million years thought it was going to a school board trustee mocking parents of toddlers.”
The New Westminster school board said in a statement that it is asking Beattie to resign immediately.
“The board is deeply disturbed by the conduct and the harm this has caused to individuals in our community and to public confidence in our district,” said Maya Russell, New Westminster school board’s chair. “This conduct is absolutely unacceptable for someone in public office and runs contrary to the district’s foundational values: collaboration, engagement, inclusion, innovation and integrity.”
Global News has reached out to Beattie, who responded by email.
“I have given a statement to my local media representatives and will not be making any further statements. I will be focussing on my health,” she said.
Global News has not been given the statement that Beattie referenced.
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